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Etymology and origin of the English word temporal

Pronunciation

  • /ˈtɛm.pə.ɹəl/[1]

temporal1 of time; worldly

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1340 Richard Rolle, prose treatises
Borrowed from
Old French temporel via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin tempus

Etymology

The adjective of time is inherited from Middle English temporal, also temporalle,[2][3] borrowed from Old French temporel[4][2][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin temporālis (“of time; lasting only a time”),[7][4][2][3] from tempus (“time, season”).[7][4][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the mid-12th century, with the senses temporary, worldly and secular.[9] Etymonline, following de Vaan, traces tempus to Proto-Italic *tempos- (“stretch, measure”), from Proto-Indo-European *temp-os (“stretched”), from the root *ten- (“to stretch”), a time being seen as a stretch of time;[4] Klein likewise explains it as a "span of time".[10] The noun sense of the breviary comes from Ecclesiastical Latin temporāle.[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Secular as opposed to sacred; lay rather than clerical: about 1340, in Richard Rolle's English prose treatises.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Wyclif's writings (about 1380) the word meant belonging to this life, earthly rather than heavenly,[7] and the early Wycliffite Bible (about 1384) used it for lasting only a time, temporary, a sense now rare.[7][11] Etymonline notes that temporal means limited in time but less fleeting than temporary.[4] The noun, temporal things, is recorded from 1390, in Gower,[7] and later also meant temporal power or possessions, the temporalities.[7][3] From 1483 a temporal was the part of the breviary and missal with the daily offices of the church year.[7][5] Grammarians used it from 1678 of the length of syllables, and in 1805 of tenses and words expressing time;[7][5] the general sense "relating to time" followed in 1877.[7][4] Johnson (1755) gave "measured by time; not eternal" and "secular; not ecclesiastical".[12]

Timeline

  • c. 1340 – secular, lay.[7][2]
  • c. 1380 – earthly, of this present life.[7]
  • c. 1384 – lasting only for a time, temporary.[7]
  • 1390 – noun, temporal things.[7]
  • 1483 – noun, the part of the breviary for the church year.[7]
  • 1678 – grammar and prosody, of the length of syllables.[7]
  • 1805 – grammar, of tense.[7]
  • 1877 – relating to time in general.[7][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to time: the temporal order of events.[8][7]
  2. Of this present life rather than an eternal or spiritual one; worldly or earthly.[3][8][7]
  3. Secular or lay rather than religious or clerical; civil: the Lords spiritual and temporal.[8][3][7]
  4. Lasting only for a time; temporary or passing.[8][3][7]
  5. (grammar) Relating to tense or to the expression of time: a temporal clause.[8][7]

Noun

  1. (usually plural) Something temporal or secular, especially church property or revenue; a temporality.[3][7][5]

Word family

  • temporally
  • temporalness
  • temporality
  • temporalize
  • nontemporal
  • atemporal

temporal2 of the temples

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1541 R. Copland, Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary of Cyrurgyens
Borrowed from
Latin temporalis
Ultimate origin
Latin tempus

Etymology

The anatomical adjective is borrowed from Late Latin temporālis (“of the temples”),[7][2][5][13][6][14] from Latin tempora (“the temples”), plural of tempus, temple of the head;[13][2][7] Merriam-Webster takes it through Middle French temporal.[3] See temple2.[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OED's first record is the noun, a temporal muscle or bone, about 1541 in R. Copland's translation of Guy de Chauliac;[7] Merriam-Webster also dates the noun to 1541.[3] The adjective, of the temples, is first recorded in 1598, in a translation of Guillemeau's French surgery.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart dates the adjective to 1597,[2] Etymonline to the 1590s,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1535–45,[15] while the Shorter Oxford puts it in the late Middle English period.[5] It is chiefly used in anatomical names such as temporal artery, temporal bone, temporal muscle and temporal vein,[7][5] and a temporal is short for any of these.[7][3] In zoology it is also used of a reptile scale behind the eye.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1541 – noun, a temporal muscle or bone.[7][3]
  • 1597 – adjective, of the temples (Barnhart).[2]
  • 1598 – adjective, of the temples (OED, Merriam-Webster).[7][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or near the temples at the sides of the skull: the temporal lobe.[3][7][5]
  2. Of or relating to the temporal bone.[3][5]

Noun

  1. A temporal part, such as a bone, muscle or scale.[3][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Temporal.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/temporal. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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